28 In the Heart of Africa 



Askari. One fellow, named Amdalla, and an Omhascha* one 

 of whom had witnessed the incident, were intrepid enough to 

 follow up the trail in the water, which reached to their hips, and 

 into the almost impenetrable bog-grass thicket, expecting every 

 moment to come within arm's length of the wounded and bleeding 

 beast. Being aware of the aimlessness of this proceeding, I 

 stopped the pursuit, but it cost me considerable trouble to 

 dissuade the men from their dangerous resolve. I have no doubt 

 but that the lion, exhausted by loss of blood, met his death 

 in the river. 



Dusk had already set in when we started to return, and 

 the night soon enwrapped us. We missed Schubotz, who, we 

 understood, had crossed over to the other bank of the river 

 with his Askari and a few men to follow up a herd of equine 

 antelopes. There was nothing unusual in this, but as the hands 

 of the clock pointed to nine, and we still waited in vain, we fired 

 off a rocket as a signal to him. We followed this up with 

 further rockets, and also discharged our rifles, but no reply came 

 back. 



As Schubotz's continued absence created some uneasiness, an 

 Askari patrol was sent out in the most probable direction. At 

 last we heard voices in the distance, and saw a flashing of 

 lanterns, which we took to be those of the Askari. It was some 

 time, however, before we heard the splashing of water betokening 

 the return of the missing men. 



Schubotz had been overtaken by nightfall whilst in pursuit of 

 his game, and had lost his bearings in the darkness. Time after 

 time he came to one of the windings of the Kakitumbe, and was 

 misled thereby. At the end, too, he and his mule fell into a deep 

 pitfall. Both were got out without injury, but the mule had 

 stuck so fast in the bottom of the pit that the ground had to be 

 dug up all round before its legs could be released. 



As it was quite apparent that a better place than Kalangassa 

 could scarcely be found for zoological research, we marched back 

 there the next morning to take up our quarters. We pitched our 

 * Ombascha, corporal in the colonial force. 



